Novel In Situ Fabrication of Fe-Doped Zinc Oxide/Tin Sulfide Heterostructures for Visible-Light-Driven Photocatalytic Degradation of Methylene Blue

Abstract

Using a hydrothermal synthesis process, Fe-doped ZnO/SnS nanostructures were created and a variety of analytical methods were used to describe their characteristics. X-ray diffraction patterns were employed to confirm the hexagonal and orthorhombic crystal structures of ZnO and SnS, respectively. Nanorods and nanoparticle clouds were visible in TEM pictures, and XPS investigation verified that the dopant Fe ions were in the 3+ oxidation state. Additionally, absorption spectroscopy revealed a decrease in the energy bandgap with an increase in Fe content, and photoluminescence analysis demonstrated that the ZSF3 sample significantly reduced the rate of recombination of charge carriers. Impressively, the optimized sample (ZSF3) displayed 95.8% more photocatalytic activity during the 120 min degradation of MB dye. This study demonstrated that an easy hydrothermal procedure, carried out at 220°C for 12 hours, may be used to create iron-doped ZnO/SnS nanocomposites. The tunable energy bandgap characteristics of heterogeneous semiconducting materials and the effective charge carrier separation were thought to be the causes of the increased photocatalytic activity. Furthermore, the heterostructure of charge carriers was proposed to facilitate photocatalytic activity when exposed to light.

Direct Hydrothermally Synthesized Novel Z-Scheme Dy3+ Doped ZnO/SnS Nanocomposite for Rapid Photocatalytic Degradation of Organic Contaminants

“…Hence, the current study could be useful for maintaining the cycle of aquatic ecosystems and supplying safe drinking water. Comparative data pertaining to the photodegradation performance of ZnO-based nanocomposites are presented in Table 3 [22,[34][35][36][37][38][39][40][41][42]. When visible light is present, the photogenerated electrons and holes diffuse in opposite directions on the composite's surface.…”

Continuous regulation of Cu electronic states by rectifying Schottky contacts enhancing electrochemical nitrate reduction to ammonia

“…The construction of Mott-Schottky junctions has been identified as a useful method to modulate the electron density at the electrocatalyst interfaces, due to the spontaneous electron flow induced by the difference in Fermi energy levels of a metal and semiconductor. [31][32][33][34][35] The carbon materials employed as substrates feature remarkable electrical conductivity and excellent chemical stability, and thus they are applied extensively in the field of semiconductor materials. 36,37 Unfortunately, the carbon materials possessing a comparably inert surface can only offer poor interaction with metals, which is frequently inadequate to effectively manipulate the electronic structures of the loaded metal.…”